Unspeakable
by AuthorMontresor
Summary: Before Persephone, was Kore. Before the Iron Queen, there was a young, naïve girl. Follow her as she walks into darkness, swims through fire, and emerges changed. Follow Kore as she claims her love. Updates every day in February.
1. Characters

**Characters** (list will be updated)

 **Kore** : young daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Has always lived with her mother, seldom goes up to Olympus. Best friends with Hecate, Athena and occasionally Artemis, at least when she stops taking shots at birds. Favorite color: gold. Goddess of… she has no idea as of yet. Probably plants and flower and some other useless stuff. Not that she's ever going to be anyone important. She's only at the top by chance. Please forget about her.

 **Zeus** : youngest of the sons of Cronus, King of the Gods, rules over the skies and shares control of the living world with his two brothers. Chiefest and greatest calamity of the age, if you are pretty. Has married Hera, and at times he remembers the fact. Father of Kore, Athena and Artemis, among many, many others. And I do mean many others. Unironically God of Justice, Thunder, Sky, Wit and Law. Jerk with a heart of jerk, but seriously, deep down, he cares. Especially if Athena is involved.

 **Poseidon** : middle child of Cronus, King of the Seas, rules over, well, make an educated guess. Actually more of a jerk than his brother. Totally into pretty boys. Has an important role further down with Athena. Fun fact: he does not have the fish tail, that would be Triton, his son. The trident is still a thing though. Tridents are cool.

 **Artemis** : Goddess of the Hunt, the Moon, and pretty much everything that is related to bow, arrows, shooting and in general giving precisely zero fucks. She has a good relationship with her nymphs, if you know what I mean. Virgin Goddess, but you know what they say about nymphs. Favourite colour: green, for green is the colour the wolf sees.

 **Triton** : son of Poseidon. Has for some reason stolen his iconography. Father of Pallas, who totally does not have a crush on Athena. He likes giving parties. Has given his name to a pretty big lake in Lybia. If you think Lybia does not have lakes, go say that to the waves. Actually pretty cool.

 **Pallas** : daughter of Poseidon and childhood friend of Athena. Tall, black-haired, blue-eyed, winning smile, can beat half minor Gods with a spear and a hand tied behind her back. Athena never had a chance.

 **Athena** : daughter of Zeus. And I do mean only Zeus. Don't ask. Actually pretty chill. Goddess of Thought, Intuition, Wisdom, Invention, Strategy, Honourable Combat, Honourable War, Weaving, Mechanical Trinkets, and a lot of other things. Do not be a cheeky little bastard and pretend you can be a better weaver. It is not going to end well. Virgin Goddess, one of a few. Best friends (cough) with Pallas. She has black hair, and her eyes are grey, which is something that drives her father crazy. Not used to the word 'no'. Don't challenge her. Seriously, don't. Favourite colour: white.

 **Demeter** : Goddess of Nature, Growth and pretty much everything that you just ate. Devoted to her daughter. Also involved in that pesky war against Titans of which we do not speak. Owns a pretty sharp sickle. Do not cross. Do not keep eye contact. Do not approach. You know, what, just eat your broccoli and remember they have feelings, too. She does not give a damn about you.

 **Hecate** : probably a Titan. Probably not. Goddess of Magic, Crossroads, Keys, Thresholds, the Moon, Dogs, Torches, and many more things, most of them unpleasant. Stood with Zeus in that pesky war of which we do not speak, a decision that we all agree was for the best, mostly for Zeus. Likes to walk. Favourite colour: one you cannot see. Best friends with Kore. For some reason. Titans are strange.

 **Protogenoi** : Those Who Came First. Not Gods, and not Titans. Crazy stuff. Among them, Gaea, Erebus, Tartarus, Ouranos, Chaos and Ananke. Wait, Ananke deserves her own page. Seriously, crazy stuff. The least you think about it, the better, lest you like your brain leaking out of your ears.

 **Ananke** : Necessity. The Fate Above. The One who Does Not Speak. The true force that carries the cosmos, together with Chaos. Not malicious, but you know what they say about having a bad feeling about this. Usually appears in the form of a large bronze-coloured coffin, parts of Her body scuttering all over it. There is no force in the Cosmos that can oppose Her, not even Zeus.

That feeling you have of being watched? It's probably Her.

 **Mortals** : eeeeeeh… Prometheus had a hand in their creation, or something. Die quickly. Fun to hang with for a while, but they turn boring fast. Mostly forgettable, unless they have a pretty face, and even then, they do not keep it. Useful to send up sacrifices, though.

 **The Elder King** : last we speak of he who is not spoken in the land of the living. Eldest child of Cronus, brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He rules the Underworld, and walks unseen among Mortals, and decides their fate. Guardian of Tartarus, with everything it contains. God of the Dead, the Underworld, the Unseen, and Wealth.

His House bears his own name: **Hades**.

He dwells there alone.


	2. Canto I

Her name was Kore, but it would not be for long.

The last time she wore it with pride was at that banquet on the shores of Lake Triton, where the Immortals used to gather, before the world was marred by winter and other tragedies.

Back then she was still a good girl.

Even that morning, Kore had come out of her cage without a word, following the guidance of her wise and beloved Mother. Kore remembered, that day, as the Immortals were all called on that fateful shore, watching herself in a mirror as Mother groomed her with her strong hands, and wondered if others would find her beautiful. Kore's deep green eyes shone like the sun amidst leaves, and her golden hair fell in gentle waves all around her shoulders, but it was just like the beauty of the Garden in which she had spent all her life. She knew not how to compare.

As Mother and Kore arrived on the shores of the lake, they received a warm welcome. It was a blessed time, when the Immortals were all still united, and the memory of the past War fresh enough to keep them all together, but distant enough not to weigh like a shadow.

Kore exchanged a few words with the other Immortals, especially those that would be closer to her in generation.

"It is good to see you back here," said strong Athena, her grey eyes full of appreciation and mirth. She too was still young. Young and unmarred.

"Ah, Kore. What a pleasure," welcomed her wise, ancient Hecate, who Kore loved because they were used to walk together, and Hecate would tell her all the ancient stories of the world before the Olympians.

"Kore. Can I go hunting in your woods?" Asked Artemis, an eager smile peeking through the dark bands of her hair. Kore started at the request, shifted her eyes towards Mother, who replied with a stern look. Kore smiled sheepishly, and the Hunter Goddess nodded in acknowledgment, turned and left, already chasing some other figment of conversation.

"Kore! Come here and greet me!" Echoed a warm voice from behind her. Kore turned and ran, jumping into the strong arms of Zeus.

"Father!" She chuckled as he lifted her in the air, laughing thunderously. Mirth and love sparkled in the eyes of the King of Gods.

"Ah, Kore! I never meet you too often!"

"Father… could you please put me down now? I am not a child anymore."

"This I can see, Kore," Zeus replied, laughing. But he did as she asked and sat her against the ground. "Look at you. Ah, the Fates have been kind with you. You are stunning." He laughed again. "Never wonder where you got your good looks!"

"One could wonder, indeed," replied the icy voice of Hera, walking next to Zeus, her hands crossed over her chest.

"Come on, now. This is an occasion of joy, let us not squabble…" he put his arm over his wife, and dragged her away from Kore, not before smiling at her over his shoulder. "I shall see you later!"

"Always so _expansive_ ," Mother chilly commented, coming to set her hands atop her shoulders, dragging her closer.

"What do you mean, Mother?" Kore asked, for she was curious, a trait that would be her ruin and her salvation.

"Your father thinks he owns everything he touches," Mother whispered under her breath. "Come, now. Sit down. Be a good girl."

And Kore obeyed, because at that time, she still was.

The banquet was remarkable. Not just for the nectar and ambrosia served, but also thanks to the laughter provided by a mortal entertainer, whom Zeus seemed to find amusing. The man, whom was called Sisyphus, danced and sang and told stories at the table of the Immortals.

Kore found him an oddity, with his crafty eyes and his sneaky hands. He seemed to be afraid of something, running against time. But she did not dare ask why. Her doubts were clouds in the spring sky, ephemeral and meaningless, and if they mimicked an important thought, it was by chance.

That was what had been taught to her, and at the time she believed it.

And thus, she spoke not, and sat at her place, and laughed in a choir with the other Immortals, and that might have been a day like any others, forgettable and meaningless.

And it was.

Until the Elder King came.

* * *

It happened late in the afternoon, when some of the Immortals had left the table. Athena, always the favourite, had already made good use of her privileges by taking the hand of her friend Pallas and disappearing with her into the woods. To do what, Kore had no idea. She knew she was supposed to know, but it bothered her she did not.

She did not know many things, and that made her itch.

She had grown and was not a child anymore.

Even Hecate was hesitant to…

Kore was shaken from these thoughts by the trembling noise of shaking earth. She had felt an earthquake once, but it had been a far-away tremor, and had passed under her feet like the snoring of some slumbering beast. This was close. Much closer.

Right behind her, in fact.

The Immortals' gazes all converged on the one point, next to Kore, where soil and sand shifted, opening like a maw. From the mouth in the earth came a cool wind, and echoes of a song Kore did not recognize, and then, taking long strides, a stranger.

Kore did not recognize the newcomer. Still, the entire table of the Immortals fell silent at his appearance. He was tall, broad-shouldered, shrouded in black clothes. Under his arm he held a shining bronze helm, in his right hand a long two-pronged spear. He was bald, and had no beard. Pale was his skin, and his eyes like two black beads, and yet a coveting golden light was inside them, like the shining that's imprisoned in the jewels deep in the bowels of jealous Gaea.

Zeus was, unsurprisingly, the first to recover. If Kore expected him to yell at the newcomer's bold appearance, she instead saw a large smile appear upon Zeus' face.

"Brother! I did not expect you! What a pleasant surprise, come, sit with us! Poseidon, scoot over, he needs a seat."

The thoughts inside Kore's head had all coalesced like morning dew collected on a large leaf, and she could not believe that the question shaking her to her core could be dismissed as a fantasy of a girl. _Did Zeus have another brother_? And why did she know nothing of him?

The newcomer stopped. Slowly, a thin smile appeared upon his face, and to Kore reminded of a wrinkle in the trunk of an ancient tree.

"Ah, I apologize. I did not wish to interrupt your fun. I am not here for your banquet, as much as I would like, brother dearest." His voice was deep, low, and yet had a sharp quality to it. It could be, thought Kore, the voice in which gemstones and gold and silver shared their secrets, deep under the deepest roots of trees. The newcomer pointed his two-pronged spear at the Mortal, Sisyphus. "I am here for him."

"For him?" Asked Zeus.

"Ah, o Unseen On-" began the Mortal, only to be interrupted by the soft, stern voice of the newcomer.

"Silence. He has tricked Thanatos with that silver tongue of his. He is a thief and a liar, and thus he should have been judged. I have been looking for him, and I am here to collect what is mine."

The newcomer took a step towards the Mortal, who wailed and threw himself at the feet of Zeus.

"Ah! O Father of All, please have mercy! Did I not entertain you with my songs and dances? Did I not…"

Kore chuckled, despite the tense situation. If he thought to sway Zeus with such ridiculous plight…

Indeed, Zeus's brows lifted. He looked more shocked by the gall the mortal had to beg him than the entire situation.

"Should I deny my brother and his rights over some silly dance? Brother, he is yours. Devise a fitting punishment."

"Duly noted," replied the newcomer, again with that odd smile upon his lips. Kore was drawn to that strange smile. She was used to see Immortals smile, laugh even. The newcomer seemed shrouded in a veil of stern solemnity of which she ignored the reason. It drawn her to him, with all the strength of an unsolved mystery.

The newcomer lifted a finger, and from the ground beneath the feet of the mortal iron chains sprouted, like ringed roots. They coiled around his legs as snakes might have done in Kore's garden, and the mortal was dragged down the hole from which the newcomer had appeared. He let out one last pained wail and was gone.

"I do have something special in mind for him," Zeus' other brother said. "I will let you know."

"Are you going already?" Was there sorrow in Zeus' voice, now? Something that Kore was not used to hear, nor would she, not yet.

"I must," the newcomer said. "My domain reclaims me. And as this accident has proven, not all my subordinates are as trustworthy as I would wish."

Zeus sighed.

"Another time, then. Poseidon, sit down again, your seat is not necessary anymore."

"Once again I apologize for the interruption," the newcomer said. "Please resume your activities."

He turned and was about to leave.

Kore had followed him with his eyes since the moment he had appeared. And maybe it was chance, or maybe it was the will of Ananke, but his black eyes fled over hers for a moment.

They stopped.

Came back.

The newcomer stood still next to her.

Kore was so captured by the sight, by the sharp curves of his lips, his cheekbones, the thousand gold lights that seemed to glow in those bottomless eyes, that he did not feel Mother's hand gripping her shoulder.

"Who are you?" Asked the newcomer. He lifted the hand that gripped the spear, and with one finger came closer to brush aside a strand of golden hair.

Kore was frozen, and yet her heart thundered in her chest, louder than a thousand deer galloping in panic down the hills.

Kore opened her mouth to answer.

She could answer this.

This unknown Immortal had asked _her_ a question.

A question she could answer.

"She is my daughter," Mother answered for her.

The black eyes of the newcomer did not move to meet Mother's.

"She takes her good looks from the father, then."

Kore had to call on all her self-control not to chuckle.

The world had just gone mad.

This… stranger… was talking back to _Mother_.

And why did she want him to keep talking?

His voice was a purr.

He was so close.

If she lifted her hand, she could touch him.

"I gather your business here is finished?" Mother venomously replied.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

The man blinked.

Something seemed to shift inside him. He squared his shoulders and withdrew his hand. The moment had passed, and the sun was once more veiled by clouds.

"Another time, then." The newcomer said, in an echo of Zeus.

He turned and left, disappearing into the shadow.

The earth shut behind him, and all was just as it had been, barely a few moments before.

All, except for that charge of deer inside Kore's chest.

And the memory of those black eyes.

She did not speak of him, nor ask Mother who he was.

Mother took it as a good sign.

A fatal mistake.


	3. Canto II

Time passed, but memory of that day never did. How much time? Maybe not even the Fates know. Years did not know winter yet. Mortals were born and died in ceaseless summer, and Immortals knew few tragedies. Kore only could witness two of them, both involving Athena: the loss of her special friend Pallas, and that of her favourite priestess, Medusa. Athena tended to shut herself down these days, and Kore saw her less and less. The only constant presence into her life, with the obvious exception of Mother, was Hecate.

Kore liked Hecate.

She always appeared at the doorstep of her Garden, holding a torch in her left hand and a smile upon her face. Mother would have wished for a door Hecate could not open, if such a door could exist, or could be made, even by Hephaestus. But her good friend seemed to have no need for keys of keyholes. In fact, she seemed to live in spaces between spaces. Details like those betrayed her age. She had been there before. Before Zeus, before the War, and likely would be there even after.

Kore believed herself lucky Hecate had taken a liking to her.

"My dearest," she appeared that night as well, the torch casting dancing glow upon her smiling face, "are you ready for our moonlight walk?"

"Certainly," Kore replied, using her most refined manners, just as Mother had taught her. She let go of the flowers she was growing, and walked towards the other Immortal, her naked feet drawing little sound on the grass of her Garden. Not for the first time, Hecate took a long look at the place Kore had called home ever since she had memory.

"It grows more beautiful every time I visit," she commented, setting her hand upon Kore's elbow and guiding her outside. Kore felt a faint prickling sensation washing upon her body, just as she did every time Hecate invited her outside. Night welcomed her, with the starry body of ancient Nix stretched all over the sky.

"Just as do you," said Hecate after a while.

"Hm?" Kore asked.

"I meant your garden, and you as well. They both grow more beautiful every time I visit," Hecate repeated.

"Oh. I… I don't think so. You are being too nice."

Any other Immortal, with the probable exception of Athena and her Father, would had let her words dance with no further meaning, simple window-dressing. Kore was used to her words amounting to little.

Hecate just kept smiling, silence stretching between them as an invitation to continue.

"I am not sure," Kore said at last, brushing her hand through her golden locks. Black eyes flashed through her memory.

She stopped walking, standing still at the wavering light of Hecate's torch. The grass was damp beneath her naked feet. What could there be below them, in the bowels of the earth? Who was the newcomer who had interrupted their banquet? Mother must have had answers, but she could not ask her, and if she pushed Artemis or Athena, Mother would make them stop visit.

Not that Athena was in any sort of condition to listen to her these days.

But Hecate could not be stopped, could she? She was there before Mother.

The other immortals went to Hestia for counsel. Kore only had this old, old, old friend, who knew all about riddles and sacrifices and the hidden spaces between spaces.

"Who was that? The newcomer. The one who came from beneath." Kore asked in a whisper, so thin she might not had pronounced at all. Surely Mother could not hear her.

"I was wondering when you would have asked," replied Hecate, smiling even wider. She gave a soft laugh, and from the hills far-off howls seemed to answer. "My dearest Kore! You who care for growing flowers, you managed to make the most singular flower bloom in the chest of the darkest of the Immortals. It is red, and strong. I have seen none with deepest roots."

Kore's heart beat now again with thunderous anticipation. Night seemed to coil around them, hiding Hecate and Kore from the scrutinizing eye of Mother.

"Who was that?" Kore's hand reached for Hecate's arm. "Please, if you indeed are my friend, tell me. Tell me who the black-eyed one was."

"He has many names. Feared by mortals and Olympians alike. He is the Elder King, for he is the first of the sons of mighty and accursed Chronos. He is the Unseen One, for he walks invisible. He is the one who receives those who comes to the farthest shore."

"The farthest shore?"

Kore's heart beat so fast she could hardly hear her own words.

"The Underworld, dearest Kore. He is the stern King of the hidden third of the cosmos. His name is Hades."

Mother knew nothing, or feigned to know nothing, about Hades. All of Mother's trees and all of Mother's roots knew nothing about the Elder King. And the birds and all the beasts of the earth fled at the mere mention of the lost brother of Zeus. Uselessly Kore tried to find out more. Even Hecate, after that morsel of information, had refused to tell more about him.

Had there been a war?

Did he fight?

Where did he come from?

Was he truly Lord of the Underworld?

And what kind of person was he?

Why was there that veil of melancholy upon his shoulders? What secrets hid in his black, golden-sparkled eyes?

And did he really find her beautiful?

These questions, and more, grew in Kore's heart.

She knew not where to turn for counsel. She could not see Father, even. Athena was still stricken with grief. And Artemis… who knew where Artemis was, always jumping from hill to hill, her bow as restless as her feet. One could not get a good conversation with Artemis.

And one sunny day, Kore would find the answers she wanted.

Though not the way she had expected.

And at least at first, she regretted her curiosity.


	4. Canto III

It had become routine, for Kore, to see Hecate less and less. Whisper of her questions must have come to Mother's ear. Mother could not actually block Hecate from visiting her, and Kore believed there was no force in the Cosmos, save for Zeus or Ananke, that would be able to prevent her visits, but they turned infrequent, and from infrequent turned spare.

But Kore had so many things to ask her… and Hecate did not answer, when she tried. It had seemed her revelation of the name of Zeus' brother had… changed the situation.

But Kore had no way to ask anything else. Mother wanted her in her Garden, tending to plants, night and day, day and night.

And when she got out, it was not Hecate.

She hanged out with nymphs, now.

They were supposed to be a good influence on her, Mother had said.

Would keep her mind from… wandering.

Kore hated nymphs.

She could only cross her arms over her chest and try to focus on the song of all things that grow, cutting out the endless chatter of her forced companions.

Three there were with her that day, and she had forgot her names already. They were fair, and tall, and beautiful, all things she would never be, of course. On and on they chattered.

The unrivalled beauty of Apollo's last song, soon to be toppled by the next one.

Artemis had seemingly found a new lover, whom she would discard soon.

And what of that mortal queen, Cassiopea, who seemingly had an armor in the fashion of a cow built for her…?

Kore rolled her eyes and turned away from the giggling nymphs.

As she often found herself doing these days, her gaze then lowered onto the ground. She leaned forward, her fingers delving deep into the damp, warm earth.

Could she hear a hidden heartbeat there? And the echoes of the song she had heard, when the soil had opened up, and that forgotten God had walked out, tall and broad and dark?

With her fingers deep into the earth, Kore was the first one who felt it.

The vibration.

Kore knitted her eyebrows, and slowly lowered her ear to the ground. There. Beneath her ragged breaths and the drums of her heartbeat, another sound came: a rumbling echo of galloping horses, like all the mares in the Garden of Hesperides had gathered and went into a crazy dash.

 _Du-dum, du-dum, du-dum_ , came from the earth.

And the nymphs felt it, too. They lifted their necks, and looked about, alarmed like a pack of sheep by the far-away howl of a wolf. And just like a pair of sheep they closed against each other, besieged by fear.

"What is this?" Asked one.

"An earthquake!" Replied another.

"It's Cronus! Mighty and accursed, he his awakening!" Prophesized the third.

They were all wrong.

Shadow fell upon the sun, and the day was veiled. The three nymphs screamed, shrieking like thin shattering ice. Kore lifted her eyes from the ground. The thundering noise grew closer and closer, stronger and stronger.

She stood up, one leg, then another.

Too slow.

Kore turned.

 _Du-du-dum du-du-dum_.

From behind them the earth bent, grew like a tumor. Soil and grass and roots erupted in a flower of dirt, and a snow of shaken leaves covered Kore's eyes for a moment.

The thee nymphs scattered now like doves before a cat, screaming, bellowing.

And Kore, instead, stood, rooted to the ground like a graven image in one of Athena's temples.

Two, then four, six tall dark horses galloped out of the wounded earth. Their manes flew like smoke in the darkened air. They pushed a carriage. And on the carriage, a dark figure snapped the reins, and the six horses rushed forward with even greater speed, and yet strangely slow to Kore's terrified sight, until it was too much for her, and she screamed and ran as well, her feet impacting the warm soil.

 _Du-du-du-du-dum_ was the noise of the approaching horses, or maybe it was her own heart.

"Hecate!" She screamed. "Hecate, help me!"

The horses were almost there, now. She felt their warm breath on her shoulders. She ran and ran – her breath broken, her lungs burning, she ran and ran, uselessly.

"Zeus!" She screamed. "Father!"

But no thunder echoed from above.

Kore stumbled, wavered, and was about to fell on her face. The horses galloped right behind her. They would trample her under their hooves!

"Mother," she begged, before something caught her, and lifted her high in the air.

A large hand.

Kore turned, aghast, and saw a pair of black eyes looking deep into her. Black eyes with speckles of gold inside them.

The hand let her go, gently. Her body touched the wood of the carriage.

Kore lifted her eyes to look at the stern face of the one who had taken her.

But just an instant later the earth opened once more, in front of her this time, and darkness and silence engulfed her, and blackness came to pour into her eyes, and she saw nothing.


	5. Canto IV

Kore opened her eyes, but she was not sure she actually did. All around her was darkness. Save for the wind hitting her face and the faint whinnying of the horses, she might as well be floating in the Chaos, before the world was made.

And his breath. It was a thin sound, always the same, relaxed, confident, and utterly terrifying. The tall figure of the person who had taken her did not speak.

Maybe he waited for her to say something? But what if she said something wrong?

Yet, Kore needed to know.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

Then, the answer, soft like silk, and yet unrelenting as a mountain.

"Your future husband."

It was _his_ voice, for sure. The Newcomer. The Elder King. He had come for her.

"W-where?" Kore began anew, but she steeled herself. She would not appear weak in front of anyone, lest before the Unseen One.

Even if he could probably not see her in the dark.

Then again, could he? Ananke knew what he was capable of.

What else, that is.

"Where are we?"

This time the answer was quicker.

"We are passing below the earth. We will reach the Door of the Night soon, and will proceed hence."

"Proceed?" She did not want to proceed.

She wanted to _go back_! To go back to the sun, to her quiet, predictable, boring life.

Kore's hands gripped her clothes.

Oh, _Mother_ …

"Proceed where?" She asked again.

"To your new kingdom." Was the answer.

And he said nothing more.

The journey proceeded in tense silence. Or at least Kore was tense. The other one, the Newcomer, the Unseen, seemed utterly at ease.

Only when a faint, far-away light appeared in the distance, Kore dared to take a look upon him.

He was tall, that was a given, but so close now he looked taller than Mother's trees. And broader, built not of sinew and bones and ichor, but of some different substance, stronger than the foundations of the earth.

He smelled of burnt metal, and beneath it, a strange dampness that Kore could not place. Or maybe that was her own fear.

Her new kingdom. What could he… and _future husband_?

Husband was such a foreign word to Kore. She tried it in her mouth, silently, just to see its shape, how it rolled on the tongue. Like a new kind of food, and she could not decide whether she liked the taste.

Mother might be able to tell her how it tasted. Mother would be able to help her.

A hand touched her shoulder. It was large and strong, and yet soft as a feather.

"Your mother is not here," he said. His voice was a low as always, and yet had a comforting note to it, no matter the words. "Your mother is not here, and she will not come again. Please understand. Your old world is gone, now. The new one awaits."

The milk-like light became stronger and stronger. They reached a mountain, or maybe the side of an old ravine, a wrinkle in the structure of the world. There awaited another figure. Kore could not see well.

And in fact, she did not want to. The moment they reached this place, she would just ask, kindly and gently, to be brought back home. Mother had taught her good manners open every door, after all, did she not?

Oh, Fates, did she miss Mother.

The chariot slowed down, leaned forward, and stopped on the grey grass that covered the marble slab where they descended. The other one, the Elder King, stepped down before her, turned around and extended a hand, inviting her to step down as well.

"I…" Kore hesitated. But could she truly refuse? Alone?

Her word did not count in the world above, she had been taught how to stay silent and composed and use kind words, how could that help her now?

How could it help her with… him?

He flexed slightly his fingers, not with impatience, but a reminder.

Kore took the hand.

Stepped down from the chariot.

Touched the grey grass. She was still barefoot, and the grass was damp and cold.

"I want to go home," she pleaded.

"Precisely," was the answer.

"I… no, please, I beg of you! I want to come back to Mother."

"That is not possible anymore," he explained. His voice was as firm and patient as always, like Athena when she tried to explain some difficult concept, or Mother when she reprimanded her. Being gentle and kind had worked with her in the past. It had worked with Hecate.

Oh, where was Hecate? Why was she not here?

"I want to go back! I am scared! Please!"

Kore dropped on her knees, and could no longer hold her tears. This was a place she did not know. And it was not vibrant, colorful and peaceful like her home, or like Olympus, or the shores of the lake Triton. It was cold, and unresponsive, and there was a kind of _thickness_ in the air she breathed. Or maybe it was her breath itself, now, ragged.

"Please bring me back. Please bring me back!"

Hard-learned lessons tore like thin clouds in front of this trial, the first real trial she had faced in her young life. Why did kind words not work anymore? They had until now. It was like she was speaking a different language. Why did he did not understand?

And if kind words did not work, why not tears?

Tears had worked with Hecate.

"Please! Bring me back! Please!"

"That is no reason to cry."

He turned, crouched on one knee. He was now in front of her, covering her completely in his shadow. No smile was on his face, but his eyes were deep and black and Kore could see the kindness in them. He took the hem of his black clothes and with it he passed it over her cheeks and under her eyes, drying them. The cloth was so soft.

He withdrew the cloth, and this time he did smile. Just a hint.

"There. Is that not better? A clean face, instead of one covered in tears. Fates know I have seen enough crying."

"Please," Kore begged once more.

"Now. I want you to calm down," he said, brushing a finger against her cheek, where one last tear descended. "I want you to draw a deep breath. Can you do that for me? Draw a deep breath. We will do that together."

He opened his mouth.

Began to breathe in, and Kore, for Fates know what reason, followed.

Maybe it was her fear. Maybe it was the manners Mother had drilled deep into her.

Maybe it was something else, the beginning of a force older than Zeus himself, making itself known.

Kore breathed in. Breathed in until she felt her mouth fill, and then her neck and then her lungs.

She held it for a moment.

And then let out.

Let it all out.

In one long, rolling breath.

"Excellent." He said. "No more tears. You are about to be a queen, and what a queen. Do tears suit a queen?"

Kore blinked.

This was a straightforward question she did not seem to know how to answer.

But it was a simple one, was it?

Do tears suit a queen?

She supposed they didn't.

"No," she answered.

"You are getting good at this," he praised her, that thin smile spreading just the tiniest bit, shining like lost light upon silver. "Now, come. And no more tears."

He took her hand once again.

The other figure stepped in. Until then he had stood silent. He bowed his head at the sight of the Elder King.

"Welcome back, your lordship," he said. "You… are not alone."

"No, Thanatos, I am not. You are getting better at stating the obvious."

The other one shuffled on his sandaled feet at the rebuke. He was tall, though not as tall as the Elder King, and looked a lot more Kore could have imagined the Lord of the Sunless lands: two large wings sprouting on each side, four in total, a dignified, bearded face, and deep blue eyes. He seemed concerned.

"I dare to hope nothing went awry during my brief absence," the Elder King said. Kore saw the hint of a dangerous light in his eyes. The other, Thanatos, recoiled, as if stung.

"Ah. No. Nothing, your lordship."

"Most satisfying. Keep your post."

The Elder King lifted a hand, and in front of them the tall black door opened. From inside came a rush of wind and the echoes of faint voices, the same Kore had heard that day.

Kore looked up to him, one last plea.

"I am scared," she whispered.

His other hand came down, brushed a blonde lock away.

"Then hold onto me, and be brave."

Kore hold on.


	6. Canto V

They passed deep into the Underworld. This was a world with no stars, and Kore felt lost, other than afraid. They walked on naked gravel, every step reminding her of the far shores of the sea. Could Father see her here? Could he listen to her pleas? Maybe he would come down and rescue her, help her, save her.

Or maybe he would do no such thing.

The faint noise of rushing water grew closer, and stronger. Kore craned her neck to see. There, shining mercurial under the un-light of this place, a river waited for them.

"What is this?" Kore whispered. The hand holding her own pulled Kore gently closer.

She was not jut speaking of the far-off river. They were now passing through a forest of shades. Transparent, similar to tall pillars of smoke. They had arms, and legs, and shiny eyes in they shifting head.

"These are the spirits of the dead," the Elder King answered. "Do not be afraid. You are with me."

And indeed, the shades, or spirits, or whatever they were, parted in front of them like wind parts wheat. They did not speak, but a faint chorus of whispers reached Kore's ears.

"Are they… praying?"

"A plight. They know their judgement draws nearer. Trying to sway my heart."

Was her own judgement drawing closer?

Beyond the forest of shades, the river gurgled. They reached the shore, the Elder King still holding her hand. From the other bank a narrow boat approached. It was carved from black wood, and the ferryman was a tall, thin man, clothed in grey rags. Gaunt, and old, and frail, and full of greed.

"Charon," the Elder King called as he approached the two of them. "You will have to carry two, this time."

"Ah, I see, I see." The ferryman scrutinized her, curiosity in his beady eyes. "And who is this? No mortal shade. Is she a nymph?"

"Nothing that would concern you, ferryman. Come," he said, turning to carry Kore over onto the boat.

Kore followed him, on shaky legs. She had never been on a boat. Did mortals really used things like that to cross the seas? No wonder so many of them ended in Poseidon's halls. This thing was no more stable and no safer than a nutshell.

"Hold on," the Elder King commanded. He reached for her and sat both hands on her shoulders. Kore's body steadied as the ferryman pushed away from the bank and began to carry them across the river. "Charon himself makes sure to carry every shade safely. He would double his safety for you."

"Aye, aye," answered the ferryman. "No coin for poor old Charon this time, no coin! But carrying the King of the Dead is an honor, is it not? Yes, an honor. And his beautiful guest."

Kore did not know what to answer. She did not like the man. She looked down into the mercurial waters, onto her mirrored gaze and that of the Elder King, keeping her steady.

She did not know what to do, so close to him.

He was keeping her steady, though. Fear of toppling over slowly abated.

Then Kore blinked.

There was someone in the water.

She recoiled.

"Ah!" The King had said no dead mortals ended in the river, but…

"What is it?" He asked. He seemed amused.

How could he be _amused_?

"I saw someone. There is a face in the water!"

"Indeed."

The boat slowed down, stopped. Water rushed, caressing the wooden edge. Then a face appeared, made of the same mercurial water of the river itself.

"Hades," it chastised him. "Are you kidnapping nymphs now?"

He chuckled, a noise like rumbling stones.

"She is no nymph! Kore, dearest, meet Styx."

"A pleasure, I am sure." The face showed a large smile. Kore did not know what to do. Old habits kicked in.

"Ah. Yes. Pleasure to meet you, indeed." She bowed a little. "I am delighted to meet you."

"Where did you _find_ this little flower, Hades? She is adorable. You fragile little thing."

"Fragile?" The King replied. "Fragile? Oh, now, my dear, I am afraid your judgment has dulled."

"Hades, she's the tiniest thing I have ever seen this side of my banks. Well, not around the chest."

Kore gasped and covered her chest with her arms.

The Elder King chuckled again, sweet mirth rolling down like pearls tinkling against rock.

"I am afraid you err, my old friend. She is no nymph."

"Then who are you?" Styx asked, pushing her watery head closer to Kore. "I know nymphs." A watery giggle. "I am one. Who are you, little thing?"

"Enough," the Elder King commanded. Styx withdrew her transparent hand, and seemed to linger on the boat's edge. "All will be made clear, quite soon. Go back to your business now, Styx. I will have you called when you are needed."

"Charming as always," Styx replied, but she did as she was told. "Hope I will see you again, Kore, not-a-nymph. Bye!"

She jumped into the river, and was gone.

They reached the bank with no more disturbances. It was covered by tiny white flowers. A meadow.

"Who was she? Why are there _nymphs_ in the Underworld?"

And she was different from the nymphs she knew. Still a bit air-headed, but far more focused than the others.

"She offered her help to my brother, back then. Among the first, if not the first indeed. Zeus gave her one entire river."

"Back then?"

"Why, dearest Kore, of course."

"What do you mean, back then? I do not understand. I do not get any of this…"

The Elder King stopped. He regarded her with his black eyes.

"Your mother told you nothing."

"She… she…" Speaking of Mother, Kore seized the occasion. "She must be worried! She must miss me. Please, let me go! Bring me back to her."

"Dearest Kore. I thought I had made myself clear. No more crying."

He offered her hand once again, but this time Kore did not take it.

She still followed him further down the meadow.

Behind them, Charon the ferryman was already pushing the boat away, reaching for the far bank.

There was no coming back.


	7. Canto VI

The meadow opened before Kore like the welcoming arms of a long-gone friend. Strange, pale flowers tickled her ankles. They were so different from what she grew in her own Garden, under the warm sun, sprinkled by moonlight and gentle water. These flowers' petals felt smooth against her skin, like cloth, or silk.

"What are these," Kore asked, picking up a couple. Six leaves, thin and blade-shaped, sprouting from a central stem where they were all huddled together, like holding onto each other.

"This is asphodel," the Elder King answered. He passed his fingers through the flowers, caressing them lovingly. "The one flower I made here in the Underworld. It is edible, and sufficient food for the shades. Ah, do not eat it!"

Kore froze as the King's hand seized her wrist, where she was putting one of the leaves towards her mouth.

"I did not wish to eat it," she replied. Why would she eat a _flower_? She was not a rabbit. Or a nymph.

The Elder King seemed to relax. His wide shoulders had tensed for a moment and fell back like the sides of a mountain coming back into place.

"Good. I have nectar and ambrosia, in abundance in fact, for your needs. You must not eat any of the other food in my realm."

The question rose, unbidden. Old habits threatened to suffocate it, to turn it into a nothing, into a wheezing smoke that would disappear into the Underworld, never to be remembered. But something, this time, rose inside Kore. The Elder King had not rebuked her questions, only her tears. She was emboldened by the situation, as scared as she was.

"W-why?" She asked, the question hanging from her lips, tenuous like a falling leaf. "Why should I not?"

"Because," began the Elder King, only to hesitate, "because it is food fit for the dead."

He gently, but firmly, took the flower from her hands, holding it close to his chest.

Mother was really not going to come, was she? There really was no one who was going to rescue her, not from this place, not from this King.

She missed Mother. She missed Mother's hands gently braiding her golden hair, so that they seemed wheat ears. She missed Hecate. She missed even Mother's overbearing attitude. Had Mother found out about her absence? But if she did, why was she not here?

Then they passed a low hill, and a new sight appeared, and for a moment, Kore's heart was lifted: in front of her the meadow gave way to what under the sun above would have been green pastures. Here, under the silver light that seemingly came from all around, they glistened mercurial, like the river Styx had. They seemed razor-sharp steel blades of grass, losing themselves to a windless dance. Powerful black horses played in the distance, around a large white marble mansion. Hounds howled at the sight of the King, and they rushed towards him.

The King laughed as they all jumped at him, fighting to be the first to get a caress, a scratch, a pat on the head.

The King laughed again, and it was such a rich, mirthful sound, that some part of Kore's heart sowed down. She had heard Zeus laugh, and his laughter was surely more powerful and boisterous, but there was not such a clear joy as in that now springing from the Elder King's mouth.

"Here, here," he said, crouching in front of the dogs. He took Kore's hand and pulled her towards the pack of dogs. "This is Kore. You will have to treat her kindly, just as you treat me, and even better, for she is going to become your Lady, my friends."

Kore couldn't stifle a giggle as one of the largest dogs, a huge black hound that would have instilled fear in any mortal, pushed its snoot against her fingers and gave it a lick. Soon she was as surrounded by dogs as she had once been with leaves, and roots, and the gentle rays of the sun.

And that was the first moment in the Underworld when Kore would be truly happy.

It did not last long. As the dogs played with her, not as eager to be petted as they had been by the Elder King, he clapped his hands, his face once again stern.

"Now, friends, leave us be. I will have to show your Lady our house."

The dogs bowed and scattered, chasing against smell trails. A few howled and barked as they passed by Kore, and were once more black and brown blots of colour against the silvery gray of grass.

"My… _our_ house?"

"Yes, dearest Kore. Here, allow me to show you."

He offered her his hand, and Kore hesitated once again.

But she had promised not to cry again, and Mother had taught her a daughter of Zeus does not cry.

They passed under a tall arch of marble, and through another tall black door, and then entered the house of Hades.

It was all built in black, and white, and silver. It shone like stained glass, light echoing against itself in different arches and coiling in arabesques, so that it seemed to never rest. Kore, passing under a window, saw her own shadows run in circle around her, like the corolla of a flower widening and closing again at the end of the day.

Whereas her own Garden had been littered with plants, the House of the Elder King was a collected place of shapes and arches. It reminded her of the temples built by mortals, but at a much grander and deeper scale. Everything was either obsidian or marble or silver or glass. As the more hallways they passed through, the starker the light became.

Until they passed under one final arch into a large circular hall: and there, Kore gasped.

Light poured in from above. Silver and white, but scattering into all sort of tinges as they touched veils of stained glass… no, wait. That was not glass.

Those were…

Kore had seen them. Had known about them. She had seen gemstones already. They glittered, inviting, on the clothes and jewels of Immortals. And even mortal women used them to enhance their charm.

But these veils were… whole gemstones, floating in mid-air, and casting the hall under slowly-shifting tones of green, blue, red, yellow and purple, all shifting into each other like the gentle currents of a river.

"This, dearest Kore, is your new home." The Elder King passed his finger through a lock of her hair. "I do hope you like it."


	8. Canto VII

Kore did not have much time to visit her 'new home' as the Elder King had put it. In fact, she did not have time for much at all.

Her clothes had been taken. She did not wear sandals, or they would have disappeared as well, Kore was sure. And now she stood, naked, in front of a tall polished silver glass, blinking in rhythm with her own reflection.

She was supposed to get ready. Ready… for what? She had no idea. The King had seemed excited, though, if excitement could peer through those chiseled, unmoving features of him.

Was she really going to be…a wife?

A queen?

Kore looked down at her body: her long blond hair fell against her shoulder, and tickled the top of her round breasts. She covered her sex with one hand, while with the other she reached for her own reflection. Was this what had attracted the attention of the Elder King? But there were surely more beautiful Immortals than hers. Aphrodite would have sung for years about her conquest if she managed to pull out of the Underworld such a secretive and important God, and what of nymphs? There was an abundance of nymphs. And according to Kore, quite the _over-_ abundance, in fact…

Why _her_?

The thought of being a wife… she would have to do what wives did. Mother had tried to keep her away from such knowledge, but when Kore's family counted among its members Hera and Aphrodite… Mother's efforts were reduced to little more than a defeated sigh.

So, yes, Kore knew about what being a wife entailed.

Her gaze moved from her chest down to her stomach, and after a moment of hesitation, to her crotch.

She would be taken there. It seemed so alien to her, so out of place. Artemis might have been more familiar with the rutting of animals, and Athena with the activities of mortals.

Would she feel pain?

Would she feel good?

It must feel good, in some way, or Aphrodite could not have been such a strong advocate of similar… practices.

And it must be painful, or Hera and Mother would not have been so against it.

She was confused.

If only Hecate was there…

Kore's eyes moved to the side of the room. She had noticed a few incense sticks, before. They had most likely been put there for her own good, as the rest of the palace of Hades was without any scent, save for the frozen fragrance of stone.

She picked up the sticks, and slowly began to trace a line on the floor. Then she crossed it.

The Goddess of Crossroads.

"Hecate," she whispered against the ashen cross. "Hecate. Please, if you can hear me… Hecate!"

"Not that she's going to answer," replied a female voice. Kore started, and wiped the ashen cross from the floor. "That little trick will not work here," said Styx, flushing inside the room, her watery body strangely hard to pinpoint against the silver and white and black of the rest of the room.

Kore's own skin, hair and eyes were truly the only coloured dots.

"Why? Why is it not working?" Asked Kore. She had been found out. Might as well extract a little more information. "There is no door that can hold back Hecate."

"You would be right," Styx replied. "No door, not even the Door of Night can block the path of the Goddess of Hanging." A strange smile danced on Styx's mouth. "But what if she's the one to shut the door in the first place?"

"What?" Kore started. Did she mean… "… did Hecate block me here?"

"No, little not-nymph, not at all. That is… a small part of a long story, and I am not sure the Master would allow me to tell you, lightheartedly." She winked. "But worry not! After tonight, you will be Queen, and I but one of your subjects. You can make me tell you then!"

She was supposed to be queen, yes… queen of this palace. Queen of the wondrous jeweled room she had seen before. But she would just be queen of the dead, and nothing more.

"So, what are you, not-nymph?" Styx floated around her, like a transparent cat, begging for food. "Who was your father? Your mother? Are you a daughter of Ceto? Do you come…"

"I am daughter of _Demeter_ , daughter of Rhea, and Goddess of Abundance," Kore replied, standing a little taller. Styx's playful mood was getting to her nerves, now. "And Zeus." Who needed no introduction.

"Oh." Styx's smile froze. "Oh," she said again. The smile disappeared, and Kore felt a little better about herself. " _Oh_ ," Styx said at last, the smile coming back with a vengeance. "This is great. The old man is going to get stricken by one of his own lightnings! Daughter of Zeus! No less, no less! Well, you are surely beautiful enough to catch the eye, dear. Do you take after your mother? No, no, you're blonde, after the father." Stys stopped talking for a moment, hesitating. "I do apologize. And not just because you're going to be my Queen in less than half the half of a day. No, I took you for a passing flight of fancy from the Master, and I should have recognized the signs. He does not dabble in nymphs."

"What do you mean? Is he…" the idea, in retrospect, was obvious. "… is he alone?"

Styx shrugged, sending echoes of water running around her form.

"The Master has always been unerringly diligent. Do you know the story of the lot drawing?"

"No."

"No? What do they teach you kids these days? But it is for the Master to tell you after all. No, no, let's just say… I think he _likes_ he it here, because its quiet, and spacious, and the Master has always been a bit of a… solitary type. You will get used to him."

"But if he likes to be alone…"

"That does not mean he enjoys it all the time."

Styx clapped her hands, producing a burst of drops.

"So! Now that we have put that behind ourselves, how about…"

"Were you sent to spy on me?" Kore asked.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I remember the Elder King saying you would be recalled from the river, when you would be needed. Is this what you were needed for? Strike a conversation with me? Make sure I do not try anything foolish?"

"By the inscrutable void of Chaos," Styx replied, "you are _sharp_. I will admit my crimes. I had been sent to check out on you, which is not spying, but pretty close. The Master wants to make sure you are well and… uhm…emotionally sound."

Kore's shoulders slumped.

"It's not like I have a choice, do I?"

"I don't think so."

Still… he had sent the nymph of one of the rivers just to make sure she was fine?

Did he… care?

In a way?

"Also I wanted to make sure you dressed yourself in style!" Styx tittered as she washed all around her. "No offense, future Queen, and I can understand the need to dress in cheap clothes if you have to go outside, but those garbs you wore…"

"That was my good tunic," replied Kore, a frown upon her face. "It was hand-made by Mother."

Styx clasped her lips, and her hands followed.

"I do see. You poor, poor child. Now just relax and have me take care of everything."

Kore let out a long breath and fell on the bed behind her.

"I don't know what to do! Why am I here? Why should I be a wife? I know nothing about these things! I only want to come back home."

"You will get used to it. There is beauty in the Sunless Realm, daughter of Zeus. You will come to like it here."

"That is what I fear," Kore replied.

A long silence stretched as Styx made a show of looking around her room.

"Say," she asked in the end, "what are you a Goddess of? I am sure the daughter of Zeus must be an important one."

Kore shrugged.

"I mostly deal with things that grow. Plants, flowers, roots, stems, branches. Mother is far more powerful than I am, and Zeus… well he's Zeus. I have been taught to be quiet, and it has served me well."

"And yet the Elder King has taken a liking to you," Styx replied, that odd smile once again on her face. "And you will not be quiet for long, I am sure. Now, enough with the pleasantries. I have a Queen to clothe!"


	9. Canto VIII

The hall of gems was not empty anymore. Side to side, Immortals and shades alike glistened under the changing light. Kore hesitated on the threshold. Styx, standing next to her – for how much a river nymph could stand – encouraged her by pushing her forward, a smile upon her transparent lips.

When Styx had said Kore would be clothed, Kore had believed she would have tried on tunics, shawls, maybe sandals, though she did not like sandals in the least.

Nothing of the sort.

Kore's body was covered by a shower of silver and golden pearls, falling from her shoulders down to her ankles. They shifted and tinkled as she breathed, and with every step they echoed in a symphony of metallic chirps. More had been braided in her hair, so that she appeared crowned and yet was still not.

And sitting at the centre of the jewelled hall, there the Elder King waited. His black eyes were already fixed upon her.

Styx stopped pushing the moment the King stood up, and the slight chattering and echoes of laughter from the presents died out, like one who walks away from the shore, and does not hear waves anymore.

"Come, Kore," he called her. "Come to my side, dearest."

Kore clenched her fists, and one last thought at Hecate, crossed the threshold. She was not ready. With every step she came closer, and the echoes of her heart mixed with the tinkling of the silver beads covering her. At last her fingers brushed against the Elder King's own, her hand was lifted in the air, and all around them silence fell.

"Behold," the Elder King said to the hall. "Behold! For this fairest of ladies next to me was Kore, daughter of Zeus!"

Kore's heart pumped faster and faster. She recognized Thanatos among the throng, sitting under emerald light. He was silent, and seemed intrigued, and lifted not a finger, and said not a word.

Then the King's words reached her.

She _was_ Kore?

"I have seen her at the table of the Immortals, and her beauty has been a constant thought ever since. My bed was knives, my food dust, my heart a thorny grip, if she was not with me. But I cannot go into the world of the living, not for long. Or my House, and my Realm, would fall into chaos." He paused. A shadow seemed to pass for a moment upon his face. "And there are other reasons, which I will not disclosure here. Still! She was Kore, daughter of Zeus, and her hair is purer than any gold I can excavate from deep down my realm, and her eyes are clearer than the shiniest emerald. She was Kore, and she is mine now."

The King drew her closer. Against his tall, strong body Kore felt even smaller.

And yet… a tiny part of her, one she did not want to admit existed, did not want to admit it even to herself, was warmed by the presence of the Elder King.

Why, Kore had no idea. Even when he was stripping her of her name and rank and family… he was stripping her of her old needs. He was stripping her of every confidence she had known. He was stripping her of her cage and tossing her into another, one with invisible bars.

She was about to be his wife.

She was about to be his Queen.

"And I am hers," the King added after a pause. He crouched in front of Kore, so that their eyes were level, though he never let go of her hand. "As I do not wish for anyone else to warm my heart." His finger rose to move a lock of hair away from her forehead, like he had tried to do at the banquet. This time Mother was not there to stop him, and Kore's forehead welcomed his touch. "And I will not wish for any other maiden, be she ephemeral and doomed to my Halls or Immortal and dwelling in the sky above. I will not seek another touch in the shadows beneath the trees, nor will I long for pleasures unknown in the depths hidden by tides. I will be King, and husband, and she will be wife, and Queen, and nothing else."

Many cheering voices rose from the halls. Kore inched closer to the King, burying her burning cheeks against his chest. There she was welcomed by his strong hand.

"And on this blessed day, I wish to give my Queen something else. I already have given her loyalty and faithfulness in marriage. But is this enough for the Queen of the Underworld? No! It is not enough. Rise, you who used to be Kore."

The King stood up, and Kore rose with him. All around her people in the stands bowed their heads. Kore knew, for the first time in her life, deference. And not because she had said a kind word, or because she had been a good girl or because she had behaved with respect and proper restraint.

No, these people and shades and Immortals bowed because she was Queen.

Her mind reeled.

"I shall give you three more things. One, this realm." The King opened his hands wide, encompassing the gem hall and everything that was beyond. "Everything that stands beyond Phlegethon and Acheron will now be subjected to your rule, as it is to mine. There will be no shade, nor blade of grass, nor beast or monster or Immortal or spirit, be they lesser or greater than you, who shall not heed your rule. Behold!" The King lifted a hand, and something grew around Kore's forehead.

A crown. A crown of iron and silver and gold, like branches, coiling themselves in arabesques.

"You are now Queen of the Underworld, undisputed ruler of one third of the cosmos. Salute your new Queen!"

And all who was in the hall bowed low to their new Queen. Kore did not know what to say. Was she even supposed to say anything? Everywhere she looked, she only saw prostrating figures. Was this good? Was this supposed to make her feel confused, and also a bit ashamed at the pride swelling in her heart.

"Second," and the King lifted his other hand, letting of Kore's, "I shall give you a power beyond even the Underworld." The two-pronged spear appeared in the King's hand, and he hit it against the floor. The earth rumbled, and far-away echoes rose, like tides rumbling against a shore. "I shall give you the five rivers of the Underworld. Pledges and oaths are tied to them, and whenever anybody shall swear an oath, be they mortal or monster, beast or mighty Zeus: they will be tied to them, just as they are tied to unescapable Ananke!"

Kore's right hand itched.

She gasped as every one of her fingers darkened, each of them gaining a different colour: from her silvery thumb to her black index, to golden, white and at last red.

"And at last, the most precious thing of all. I had said everyone who shall take upon an oath will do so in your name. Well, they will not do so under the name of Kore. That name is gone. A maiden-name, a servant-name, a name unfit for the Iron Queen."

He paused. Something, deep, deep inside her shifted.

She stumbled.

What was happening? This was… Mother had given her a name, did she not? And she knew that name, but… it did not sound fitting anymore. No, she who had been Kore thought, feeling her metal crown and watching her changed fingers, it was not fitting at all.

"You, wife of mine, Queen of mine: hence forth will be known as Persephone."


	10. Canto IX

As of late, life had not been kind to Athena. First Pallas had… disappeared. Then, Poseidon, in retaliation, for sure, had had his way with her favourite priest. Poor Medusa.

Athena stopped to gaze at the empty field in front of her: grey branches, a crumbling layer of dead leaves. Was this the place where…? No, this was not a land touched by the Gorgons' passage. It just seemed to… die.

Fitting for how she felt. Athena walked across the cindery fields. The smell of death was in the air: strangely sweet, the smell that the bodies of mortals gave out when the light in their eyes went out. Athena came upon a village. Had she blessed it? For a moment her heart was lifted by the symmetric choice of roads ad houses, and it soothed her thoughts.

But from the empty blinders peeked out dead bodies. Flies only seemed to be in abundance, and everywhere their constant buzzing was like one final chorus before the great silence.

And not just the village.

The hills behind the village were brown and grey as well. The woods of pine, once resplendent, reduced to a landscape of thorns.

"What is happening here?" Athena whispered. Not that she cared that much for the scions of Prometheus, but mortals had their uses, and were crafty. It was a terrible waste to just… see them wither.

She entered one of the ruined homes. As she crossed the threshold, a vibration rose in the air, and she turned to look upon an Immortal she had not seen in quite some time.

"Athena! Thank the Fates, you answered my call."

"Hecate?" Athena replied, frowning. Then she connected. The threshold.

"I tried to have Hermes contact you, but he could not find you! Where have you been? It does not matter. Now, come, please! I need your help!"

Without even waiting for an answer, Hecate took her by the wrist and crossed the threshold again. One step later, they were in a different place, a different time. It was now night. Around them, open plains, dark, yet dotted by distant fires, and the echoes of death-throes.

"What is this? Are the mortals at it again?"

But no, Athena said to herself a moment later. This was connected to the great dying she had seen already. And it was not just the mortals, was it? Plants, animals… the entirety of nature seemed to fight against itself. Scattered. Broken.

"No, it is much, much worse! Kore has disappeared!"

Athena's frown turned into a scowl. She had liked Kore. She was so young and naïve, but endearing in her own way. Yet another bad news to add to the string that had gathered already.

"And Demeter is going mad! She's walking the earth, crying Kore's name out, and the land is _dying_ , Athena! Crops fail, trees wither, fish turn lakes and rivers into silver graves! Mortals are waging war against each other and do not spare for sacrifices anymore! The hard-won peace is at risk! Please, you must help me find her!"

Athena withdrew her wrist from Hecate's hand.

"Kore has disappeared," Athena repeated, putting a knuckle to her lips. Already her grey eyes were looking for a thread, a connection she could not yet see, but it was there, if only…

Kore.

Last time she had seen her: that final day with Pallas… at the banquet on the shores of Lake Triton.

Pallas.

Dead.

Gone.

Gone to…

Athena gasped.

"What is it?" Hecate interrupted her. "Did you find anything? Please!"

"I might know where Kore is," Athena slowly said.

"Then let's go!"

"It is not a place where you can bring me. I will have to take my leave."

"Not a place where… where I can go…" comprehension dawned in Hecate's eyes. "Oh Fates… I… I teased her about him, did I not? And now… the Underworld? Is she in the Underworld?"

"I am not sure. If she's there, I will bring her back. I am going now. Do not wait for me. And do not tell Demeter where her daughter might be, or she will tear earth asunder to reach her!"

Athena turned and ran. Her sandals scattered dust and bones where she stepped. She did not care.

In all frankness, she did not care about Kore either. If Hades had chosen her and brought her into his home, good catch for him. But that meant…

Athena laughed as she ran. A savage joy, a savage hope ran once more in her veins.

Hades had kidnapped Kore.

Demeter was going mad.

And she might have leverage with the Elder King.

Leverage to get Pallas back.

Persephone kept thinking about one moment in particular.

When Hades had stripped her of her old life and tossed her old name to the side, he had then carried her in her room, after the announcement and the celebration. Persephone's head swam with fear and excitement and the newfound power in her veins. Oh, she was not poor, meek Kore anymore! The five rivers of the Underworld in her hand, the metal crown upon her head, and the unyielding loyalty of Zeus's eldest brother, for all eternity. The sort of thing that went to your head.

"I hear you chuckling, my beloved," her husband – her _husband_ \- had whispered as he carried her to her bed. "I am glad you are happy."

"It's not…it's not just that," she answered.

But she _was_ a bit giddy. Tipsy in a way that she could not explain.

Was this power?

No wonder Zeus was so happy all the time.

And as Hades brought her to her room, Persephone realized there was something else to be done.

She was his _wife_.

He had given her a place, a kingdom, and power comparable to that of Ananke herself.

It was now time to hold her part of the bargain.

With trembling hands, she had begun to take off her clothes.

Hades had looked at her – and this was the moment when Persephone's world had started making even less sense – and with the sweetest light she had ever seen in his deep black eyes, had put a hand upon her head.

He had let it there, softly stroking her hair, looking at her with a tiny smile.

He did not speak.

He did not move.

He just sighed contentedly.

And at last, he nodded, stroke her head one last time, and kissed her brow.

"I will see you soon, my beloved," he had said.

And then he had exited the room.


End file.
